A Tale That Grew in the Telling"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," the first film in "The Hobbit" Trilogy,
was released
in late 2012 and became a billion dollar success worldwide, inspiring fans from
every generation and
spawning renewed interest in the timeless masterpiece by J.R.R. Tolkien on which
the Trilogy is
based.

"The world of Tolkien is so rich," says Academy Award-winning filmmaker Peter
Jackson.
"It's almost like you're turning the page of a history book, going back into
that world to a new
chapter and seeing new characters, creatures, and places that you haven't been
to before."

In adapting The Hobbit into three fully rounded motion pictures, Jackson and
his
screenwriting collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, along with Guillermo
del Toro, found
they had the freedom to avoid having to cut or condense the narrative of the
book while also
incorporating material from the 125 pages of appendices that Tolkien included at
the end of The
Lord of the Rings. With these extensive notes about the environment and politics
of Middle-earth
during the time of The Hobbit, Tolkien provided vital connective tissue between
Bilbo Baggins's
journey and the ultimate struggle for Middle-earth chronicled in The Lord of the
Rings.

For the filmmakers who a decade ago brought that three-volume opus to the
screen with
"The Lord of the Rings" Trilogy, "The Hobbit" Trilogy presented them with an
irresistible journey
of their own: to fully explore the mysteries and dangers both hinted at and
fully described in both
the appendices and The Hobbit, while not compromising the tone of what was
essentially written as a
book for young people.

"The challenge of making these films is remaining true to the spirit of the
book while also
transitioning to the flavor and style of 'The Lord of the Rings,' and we were
very aware of the tonal
differences," notes screenwriter and producer Fran Walsh. "The Hobbit is a much
more playful
book, but in the latter half of the novel, some of the heavier and darker themes
that Tolkien
developed in the later trilogy are really coming into play--the nature of power
and courage, of greed
and sacrifice. So it felt natural that the second film would have that slightly
darker tone."

With the film's 15 primary characters already introduced in the first film,
Jackson and his
collaborators were also able to embrace what Jackson describes as the book's
"breathless pace" in
the second. "You can step straight into the story from where the first film left
off, so there's little
need for exposition," he says. "At the same time, with the second film, the
challenge was to deepen
the conflict and increase the difficulty for our characters. I wanted it to feel
a bit like a thriller, as
the events intensify and the stakes go up. That's what's so exciting to me about
this film--it's a
continuation of the story but takes you into a whole new world. We travel to new
places, meet new
people, and, of course, we get to see the iconic Tolkien moment of Bilbo's
confrontation with the
Dragon."

The film's title refers to the destruction and ruin left in the wake of the
Dragon Smaug's
powerful and vicious attack on the Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, a fallout zone of
charred lands,
ruined cities and desperate people. "Dragons love gold, and this particular
Dragon, who was mean
and hungry at the time, was called Smaug," explains Philippa Boyens, the avowed
"Tolkien geek"
among the screenwriting team. "He came down unexpectedly upon the Dwarves, and
destroyed not
only the Kingdom of Erebor but the City of Dale, which lay at the foot of the
Lonely Mountain. It
was a day of such destruction that it literally scarred the earth for miles
around, which became
known as the Desolation of Smaug."